The weekly quiz is provided by the Globalist, a daily online feature service that covers issues and trends in globalization. The nonpartisan organization provides commercial services and nonprofit educational features.

QUESTION

Opiates, scientifically speaking, are compounds that occur naturally in opium poppy plants. Opioids, by contrast, are synthesized compounds derived from opium, which can also be addictive. We wonder: Which of the following countries has the largest share of its population using opioids?

ANSWER

A. United States

B. Iran

C. Russia

D. Afghanistan

A.

United States is correct.

In 2014, 3.8 percent of the U.S. population was using opioids, whether heroin and prescription painkillers — the highest share worldwide. Australia is the next-closest, also with more than 3 percent. Combining users of all opium derivatives — natural and synthesized — would include well over 5 percent of the U.S. population between the ages of 15 and 64, as of 2013. Worldwide, only Serbia also exceeds 5 percent on the combined total. Worldwide, 32.4 million people used opioids in 2014. This represented a global opioid use rate of 0.7 percent, a level the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime deems stable. Heroin overdoses in the United States quintupled from 2004 to 2013, with most of that increase since 2011. A majority of heroin in the United States comes from Latin American cultivation, but a growing minority is coming from Afghanistan.

B.

Iran is not correct.

As a percentage of the population, Iran has one of the largest opioid problems among the world’s 30 largest economies, though it is not the highest share. Altogether, 2.27 percent of the population between the ages of 15 to 64 are estimated to have been users in 2010, the latest year with data reported to the U.N. Iran’s government has indicated that the situation worsened after that. A key part of the explanation is that Iran borders Afghanistan, which is the world’s largest producer of opium. In addition, Iran’s air and sea infrastructure is used to move product out of the region. Iran serves as one of the major drug trafficking paths between Afghanistan and Europe. Iran and Pakistan are the two most important immediate destinations for opium products leaving Afghanistan. Both countries do not just function as major transit points of the trade but also have to fight growing consumption at home.

C.

Russia is not correct.

Although it does not have the highest rate of opioid use in the world, the Russian Federation has a significant problem with opioid abuse and ranks about even with Iran among the 30 largest economies. About 2.3 percent of the 15- to 64 year-old population used opioids as of 2010, based on the last estimates the government provided to the U.N. The real figure may be higher. Russia’s government is not very transparent about addiction in the country. In addition to official stigmatization and unscientific treatment plans, Russia’s drug problem has been compounded by the implosion of its public health system after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. In addition, the treatment of drug users in sub-standard facilities has contributed to a serious outbreak of drug-resistant tuberculosis that threatens Russia’s overall population.

D.

Afghanistan is not correct.

After more than three decades of war, just about the only constant in Afghanistan is that the country consistently produces most of the world’s opium — more than 85 percent in 2014. The land area under cultivation in 2014 was the highest ever recorded. In 2009, the latest year data was compiled, Afghanistan became the nation with highest population share of opiate users in the world, but its opioid use is much lower. An estimated 2.65 percent of Afghans aged between 15 and 64 were using opiates at the time. This marks a sharp increase from 2005, when the level was just 1.4 percent, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. Opium in its nonsynthesized forms has historically been consumed primarily by the elderly in Afghanistan. Indeed, more than half (6 million to 12 million) of opiate users globally live in Asia. Worldwide, an estimated 16.5 million people abused natural opiates (as opposed to opioids like heroin) in 2014.